The Washington Redskins on Sunday play the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13 action at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
On Wednesday, Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians and running back David Johnson spoke to the Washington, D.C., media about their upcoming matchup against the Redskins.
Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Bruce Arians
On accounting for the Redskins' receiving options:
"That's hard to do. You know, we have a pretty decent secondary. I think we're… the biggest thing is to get to the quarterback – don't let him get it off. But it's a problem. They've got a great arsenal of weapons, especially the two tight ends."
On Su'a Cravens and his similarity to Cardinals $LB Deone Bucannon:
"Very good young player. Liked him coming out of SC. Thought he had that potential of a safety playing linebacker, could cover people, physical. Very, very good young player. Excellent blitzer."
On how they plan to attack the Redskins' secondary:
"We won't change anything. We don't change anything that we do because of who is on the other side. We just do what we normally do and see if they can cover us."
On how they work around a changing offensive line:
"Well, you have to help them. You have got to stay balanced and hopefully not get into a situation where it's a throw, throw, throw game because then you're putting them in harm's way and your quarterback in harm's way."
On the play of QB Kirk Cousins:
"Oh, he's been rock solid. You know, I guess he's No. 2 in the league in a lot of areas and deservedly so. He's putting the ball on the money. He's pushing it up the field, not throwing very many interceptions and he's always been a gym-rat quarterback that really studies the game, guys you really love to coach, so got a lot of respect for him."
Arizona Cardinals RB David Johnson
On the key to attacking the Redskins' run defense:
"For me, it's getting to my keys – reading what they're giving me, basically, and trying to finish downhill."
**On the slow start to the season and how they can improve:
**
"For me, I think it really matters about my job [and] making sure I'm doing what I'm doing to help out the team, making sure I know my responsibilities, and just trying to do as much as I can – whether that's coming out as a receiver, running the ball and then just helping Carson [Palmer] keeping the pocket clean."
On what makes him comfortable in the slot:
"I've actually played really the same thing in high school where I was a running back but I also split out as a receiver. Coming out and going to college, I actually went to Northern Iowa to play receiver and that's where I started to develop confidence in being a route-runner. So that whole summer, going into my first year at UNI, all I did was routes and catching out of the JUGS machine and stuff like that. That's where it really started getting comfortable, and ever since then I've been getting more and more comfortable with it. Coming to the league and getting a lot of help from Andre Ellington, Stump [Mitchell], Kerwynn [Williams], Stef [Stepfan Taylor] and all the running backs helped me a lot to where I am comfortable. The biggest thing with me now is just being able to really dissect defenses knowing more in depth if it's Cover 2 or what coverage they're in so I know what route I'm doing and being able to actually run an effective route – the correct yards and the correct technique."
On if teams knew during the draft that he could be used in that role:
"I think I knew right away just from actually watching last year or the year before I got here, watching Andre Ellington do it effectively. He was able to do it effectively for the Cardinals. So when I got here, I knew I was going to be able to be split out at receiver or come out of the backfield. Like I said, I've had a lot of help with Andre and all the guys around me."
